Interleukin 8 released after acute myocardial infarction is mainly bound to erythrocytes.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether rapid clearance of interleukin 8 (IL-8) from plasma through binding to the erythrocyte chemokine receptor may be responsible for failure to detect IL-8 consistently after acute myocardial infarction.


METHODS
Plasma concentrations of IL-8 were measured at frequent intervals in 43 consecutive patients. In 21 of these, erythrocyte bound IL-8 concentrations were also measured. The influence of infarct size, type of treatment, and the presence of early successful reperfusion on IL-8 release was assessed.


RESULTS
Peak IL-8 concentrations in plasma were raised in 31 of the 43 patients (68%). Median plasma IL-8 concentrations were 16.0 pg/ml (range 2.4 to 225.0 pg/ml) six hours after the onset of chest pain. Twelve hours after the onset of symptoms, plasma IL-8 concentrations had already returned to normal in 27 patients. In contrast, in 18 of 21 patients (86%), erythrocyte bound IL-8 concentrations were raised at between 6 and 30 hours, with a median peak value of 59.8 pg/ml (range 19 to 148 pg/ml). No correlation between peak creatine kinase MB and peak IL-8 (plasma or erythrocyte bound) was observed. There was a significant difference in peak plasma IL-8 concentrations between patients who underwent direct PTCA (19.4 pg/ml) and those who received conservative treatment (9.9 pg/ml; p = 0.0206), but no correlation with the presence of early successful reperfusion.


CONCLUSIONS
IL-8 is released in plasma after acute myocardial infarction and subsequently binds to red blood cells, resulting in only a transient rise of plasma IL-8 and a more prolonged increase of erythrocyte bound IL-8.
de Winter
R J
RJ
Department of Cardiology, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Manten
A
A
de Jong
Y P
YP
Adams
R
R
van Deventer
S J
SJ
Lie
K I
KI
D015415:Biomarkers; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D011485:Protein Binding; D018123:Receptors, Interleukin / Q000378:metabolism*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D015415:Biomarkers; D016209:Interleukin-8; D018123:Receptors, Interleukin; D003402:Creatine Kinase